BACKGROUND: The development of hand osteoarthritis (HOA) and its progression into the erosive subset are unclear, but inflammation is suspected to be the main source. To verify the involvement of inflammation in HOA pathogenesis, we evaluate serum inflammatory mediators and their association with HOA-related clinical features in patients. METHODS: 153 participants (50 non-erosive HOA patients, 54 erosive HOA patients, and 49 healthy control subjects) were included in this study. All patients underwent clinical examination, which included assessment of tender and swollen small hand joints, ultrasound (US) examination, and self-reported measures (e.g., AUSCAN or algofunctional indexes). Serum inflammatory mediators were quantified using human cytokine 27-plex immunoassay. We employed linear modelling, correlation analysis, and resampling statistics to evaluate the association of these mediators to HOA. RESULTS: We identified increased levels of nine inflammatory mediators (e.g., eotaxin, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, interleukin-8, and tumour necrosis factor) in HOA patients compared to healthy controls. Increased mediators correlated with ultrasound findings as well as with clinically tender and swollen joint counts in patients with erosive HOA. However, none of the mediators distinguished between erosive and non-erosive HOA subtypes. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the hypothesis on the involvement of inflammation in HOA.

• Keywords
• chemokines, cytokines, erosive disease, hand osteoarthritis,
• MeSH
• Chemokine CCL11 blood   MeSH
• Chemokine CCL2 blood   MeSH
• Chemokines blood   MeSH
• Cytokines blood   MeSH
• Interleukin-8 blood   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Osteoarthritis blood   pathology   MeSH
• Disease Progression MeSH
• Hand physiopathology   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha blood   MeSH
• Inflammation blood   physiopathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Chemokine CCL11 MeSH
• Chemokine CCL2 MeSH
• Chemokines MeSH
• Cytokines MeSH
• Interleukin-8 MeSH
• Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha MeSH